Wednesday 24 August 2016

WTF was I thinking

To finish off the weekend up at Squamish, I could not have predicted what I got myself into. I started Sunday morning off with a complainypants blog write up about how I did not run the race (if you can't tell I'm still bitter about it), while my parents were getting ready. We decided to have lunch together and then go our separate ways. They headed off to the Sea to Sky Gondola while I headed over to Farside aid station to hang out and hopefully get a jump on the traffic home.

How I started my afternoon
So I made it to Farside and ended up just hanging out with everyone watching the runners come through. So I didn't feel like I was completely useless I did cut up some watermelon but that was about it. The day progressed and I found out that traffic was already getting backed up so I knew it was going to be a late evening. Oh well I didn't have anywhere to be so I was okay with that.

As the last runner to clear the cut off comes through, over the radio Kyle hears about runners getting stopped by a bear that wouldn't move. That when everything became "interesting" (I'm using quotes because I don't think interesting is the right word). This is when Kyle, Courtney & I volunteered go go scare the bear away. Like the title says, WTF was I thinking, I don't chase bear, I run away from them. 

We made good time getting into the forest and I couldn't remember a lot of the trail, lucky Kyle knew where we were going. We'd made a couple short cuts and caught up to the last runner who was very scared of the bear. We'd stay with him from this point on. We'd come across a cub and talked to a few fellow hikers and bikers. From what we could gather the mother and cubs were making their way from Mount of Phlegm. We picked up the sweeps and another marshall by the time we were on our way down. So overall I can't say we actually did much bear chasing but it was still exciting. 

By the time we got to where I could hop off the course, the others took off ahead of us and Kyle and I decided to also run to the finish. Kyle, Courtney, Jennifer & the other sweep (sorry I can't remember your name) I can't thank you enough for turning my first DNS into a very fun adventure. Although I didn't get to run the race, I was able to appreciate the last 10k and it's not as hard as I remembered. I still think I should of ran on Saturday & Sunday but glad I didn't since I didn't want to end up in the hospital. 

For those who are interested, I haven't had any kidney pain since Saturday morning at 2-3ish and haven't needed to take any medication since then. Sorry to disappoint those who like to hear about my sufferfest, I promise to make sure I have a sufferfest soon enough.

I should be back to my usual adventures with good stories soon enough. Until then let's hope I pass the stone quickly and painlessly or painfully if you want me to cry. On the plus side kidney stone pain is suppose to like child birth so I'll always have that.

2 comments:

  1. Hey man! You saved me this past Squamish, if it wasn't for you I would of been cut off, for what ever reason I forgot about the cut off at As7 so thanks alot man! Really Thank you!! And awesome job out there! How did the 50k go after? You can check out my experience if you're interested https://www.cameronmann.net/blog/2017/8/25/squamish-50-miler-my-first-ultra-experience

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    1. Hey Cameron, it was nice to meet you, I'm always rushing to make the cut offs.. Sunday was a race to make the cut off from the last aid station to the finish. BTW, Awesome write up :)

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